The Goat Children

                Hello happy readers!  So nothing new to really discuss today accept the review.  I previously read Escape from Witchwood Hollow (review) and Cogling (review) by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek and enjoyed it so when her new story, The GoatChildren, came out I was pleased to receive a copy for an honest review.  This was a combination of contemporary and a tiny but of fantasy mixed in there with lots of realism.  It was also described as a story close to the authors heart which I always find interesting to the story so I was game.

Rating:  4.5 Stars

                The Goat Children is the story of Keziah and what happens when her grandmother, her Oma, is diagnosed with dementia.  She’s only seventeen and no longer lives in town with her Oma but when the only option is a home, Keziah leaves her homeschooled life with her younger sister to stay with Oma and take care of her.  The woman whom she has nothing but loving memories of spending time together dementia is making her resentful and her cherished time a chore.  She is faced with hardships she never imagined and through it all finds Oma’s ramblings about the Goat Children, the warriors who ride Pegasus a great escape.  But as things don’t always make sense and her Oma becomes more insistent she begins to question their existence.   

                This book really got to me emotionally.  While I had a different set of circumstances it is horrible to have someone you once had so many loving memories with become less than themselves.  My Ma was my best friend and most important person in the world and we have a long time together even when she got sick, cancer, I still had her and while that last week she started to forget it was a short time.  Still it was hard on me.  The Goat Children is much different and the same, focusing on a disease we are still working to understand fully and try to cure and watching someone you love change during a much longer period.  This is so real and powerful you will feel it.  Oma was my Ma when I read.  This is something I don’t think many of us really understand, I dealt with it but still I was much younger and while I remember it I can also sometimes forget. 

                Keziah has to deal with a lot and as a teenager it’s hard to give up your whole life to take care of someone.  Someone you love beyond measure but who isn’t the same anymore.  Mierek really captured the blender of emotions going on within Keziah in such an authentic way it’s impossible to ignore.  The trials that she goes through in her quest to help her Oma are serious but I also loved learning about these Goat Children.  I liked hearing Oma talk about her Goat Children just added to things for me.  Also I love how it plays on the story and her own imagination and how after hearing about certain things she begins to see them.  Then is it coincidence, your mind is just on them, or could they be real?  The concept was great. 

                I enjoyed the whole story and I look forward to reading more from not only Mierek but other books that deal with real and pressing issues.  I’d love to hear your thoughts and feels below.  Could you relate to Keziah and what she went through?  Share your stories below. 

                Until next time…

Cogling

                Happy belated Valentine’s Day!  I don’t normally care much for the holiday myself, though this year I did have fun doing some baking for the work crew with themed cupcakes.  Also best part, discount chocolate this week!  Also this weekend The Walking Dead returned (I haven’t watched yet I’ve been at work since 6pm last night and yes I’m still here but it’s waiting for me on my DVR) and this weekend Deadpool came out!  I saw it Thursday since I had to work the weekend.  Hilarious!  This weekend I also got to read a book that recently came out, Cogling by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek.  I previously reviewed another title by her, Escape From Witchwood Hollow and was excited to learn about her new title and receive a copy for an honest review. 

Rating: 5 Stars

                Cogling is a different type of story involving hags and magic and coglings, clockwork changelings that replace children the hags steal, and one sister willing to risk anything to get her brother back.  Even rely on the help of a thief with secrets of his own.  Enduring several obstacles on their journey only to discover a much larger plan at play.

                I really like the idea of changelings.  So much material there to work with but adding in the added aspect of them being made of gears and parts, just a machine even more interesting.  Edna and her brother are really close and she is really worried about the change in him and quickly discovers he’s been taken by hags and replaced but no one will believe her outrageous tale.  The only clue she has to find Harrison is the watch that powered his cogling before it crumbled and when Ike sees it in her hand he is able to tell her more about it than anyone else.  So what if he’s a thief.  He’s willing to help and she can’t be picky. 

                There are some interesting characters in this.  We start with Edna and Ike.  Edna is driven by fear for her brother and you want her to succeed.  She is likable and relatable but still has this part of her that is unknown.  Then you have Ike, a thief living on the street but who has some secrets of his own and knows a lot about the hags and their plans.  He also seems to have his own motivations for helping Edna.  We also get to know in some form or fashion other characters like Mother Sambucus, Lady Rachel, Harrison, Hilda, and so many more. I feel we learn a bit about each of them and what drives them.  In this world we also get a variety of species and types.  I just love the world build with the automatrons, the Nix, foxkin, dragons, and tomtars everything was so enchanting.  I really enjoyed seeing and learning about each one and how they interacted in the world.  It was a great mix of magic and steampunk aspects.  I just adored Silver!

                There is constantly something happening, I’ve been really loving the fast pace of the books I’ve been reading as of late.  They really fly by.  Edna and Ike find themselves facing obstacle after obstacle trying to reach her brother and then to find a way to expose what has been happening to prevent it from happening again.  The constant will to keep going despite everything.  I was pulled in and really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy or magical story. That’s all for now, share your thoughts below in the comments. What would you do if you found your sibling or loved on was replaced by a cogling?  Would you go after them? 

                Until next time…

My review of Escape From Witchwood Hollow

                Welcome back for another review.  I was contacted by the author about reviewing Escape FromWitchwood Hollow.  I had never heard of this book before but the concept was intriguing and that was all I needed. 

                Escape From Witchwood Hollow by Jordan Elizabeth takes place in a small town of Amn, a small farming town that has a legend.  Witchwood Hollow is that legend, a haunted place in the forest where if you wander in you will never leave because the witch will trap you in the shadows.  Creepy right?  I love small towns and their legends and mysteries with the way the kids in town will play on them.  Anyways this story spans several lives that all center around Witchwood Hollow and the mysteries that lay within from the 1600's, 1800's to current 2001 where Honoria and her brother move to Amn with their Aunt and Uncle after losing their parents in 9/11.  Honoria finds the legend compelling and the idea of this haunted place not so scary but more hopeful.   She sets off to find the secrets of the Hollow and if the witch is real, if she could help her.  But at what cost.

                I liked the time aspect of the book.  We see inside the heads of three main characters who span the times.  We see from Lady Clifford in the 1600's who starts this off.  Our witch.  What drives her to this Hollow and things that transpire.  In the 1800's we have Albertine who wonders into the woods on her way to her fathers' after arriving in America ready to see him again and marry the son on the neighboring farm.  Her plans are derailed when she is lost/trapped in the woods.  Then we have the modern aspect of Honoria (the name is a bit out there for me), who is suffering the loss of her parents and trying to start a new life.  City girl to country girl, there is a bit of a learning curve to the way things are done in small towns.  Each has their own story and journey and the way the weave together enlightening parts of the others was well done.  While all three ended up in the small town of Amn for different reasons and in vastly different time periods each one was unique and had their own characteristics and way of speaking that seemed authentic to someone like me who doesn't read a lot of historical fiction. 

                I can't discuss the plot too much because the book is a super short and quick read and the best part of the book is the mystery as you read.  Uncovering the past and figuring out how it plays into the future of Witchwood Hollow.  I say go into this book not knowing anything else and enjoy the mystery.  Also not a spoiler but random thing I can totally say it sums up chickens, aka demon spawn, perfectly when Honoria, a city girl, has her first encounter with them.  I just had to add that.  I give this book a solid 4 Stars. 

Rating: 4 Stars

                Let me know what you think down below in the comments please.  Comments are happiness J  Share with me any local legends you’ve lived near or visited.  I never heard any in my small area which was somewhat disappointing.